Madison boys basketball pulls away from Morenci

Saturday

Feb 8, 2014 at 9:45 AM

Trojans stay unbeaten in TCC with 41-30 win over Bulldogs

By David GiffordDaily Telegram Sports Writer

For a team that hangs its hat on the defensive side of the ball, things looked a little shaky for the Madison Trojans boys basketball team in the first half of Friday’s Tri-County Conference game at Morenci. However, the second half belonged to Madison as it held host Morenci to seven points in the last two quarters of a 41-30 win.

Both teams were able to break early pressure from their opponents to put up some easy baskets — something that became increasingly difficult to find as the game wore on. During the first quarter, the Bulldogs (7-5, 4-3 TCC) used the energy from their crowd and the excitement of potentially giving Madison (11-3, 9-0) its first league loss to make a normally strong man-to-man Madison defense look average.

Penetration off the dribble continued to plague the Trojans the entire first half.

“When we went in at halftime, we had problems with their dribble drives, and we knew we needed to get better at that, but this team never panics,” said Madison coach Jeff Webster. “We knew they would come out right at us right away, and we talked about withstanding the first four minutes of the game, and we were able to do that, which allowed us to stay in the game.”

Morenci doubled up the Trojans in the first quarter 10-5. They also took momentum with them into the second quarter thanks to a long triple off the hands of Austin Sandusky from the right corner in the waning seconds.

They used that momentum to again jump out with the first basket in the next frame. The Trojans experience showed as they refused to get into a hurry-up game, using patience on offense to work the ball around before putting it into Prince Benson’s hands in the post. Benson used his height to knock down a short bank shot, sending Madison on a 9-2 run over the next two minutes to pull within one.

The Bulldogs seized momentum back with a 6-3 run of their own to entire halftime leading 23-19.

For the third straight quarter, the Bulldogs led off the scoring, this time on a Torin Merillat inside bucket just 23 seconds into the quarter. It was after that basket when things went dark for Morenci.

Webster, tired of watching Morenci score baskets from inside, but still leery of their outside shooting, changed from man-to-man to a 3-2 zone defense.

Madison’s length and hustle took over the game.

“After that first bucket, we went to the 3-2 zone, and they went on a long dry spell,” said Webster.

Try 12 1/2 minutes long. Merillat made his basket for the Bulldogs at 7:37 left in the third quarter. The air from outside the gym must have reached the Morenci side of the scoreboard, because it was frozen on 25 until Merillat made another score with just over three minutes left in the game.

In the meantime, the Trojans were showing off athleticism in the form of Collin Slates, and the length of Benson.

At one point, with Madison now up by two points, Slates deftly crossed over into the lane before rocking the next opponent to sleep while he zipped to the basket, and then dished it off to Benson for an easy banker. On the next possession, Slates set his feet on the pass and knocked down a triple from the right wing.

While Madison was pulling ahead, Benson was busy keeping shots from even reaching the rim, swatting away Morenci’s next two attempts.

Those were rare appearances for Morenci to be in the lane during their dry spell. It was a trend that didn’t go unnoticed by their coach, Jim Bauer.

“We just didn’t attack in the second half,” said Bauer. “We didn’t do a good job of finding the bubbles in their zone, and when we did, we didn’t make ourselves a threat to score. We didn’t distort the zone at all to give us those opportunities, but give them credit too, because they don’t break down on possessions.”

A four-point halftime deficit for Madison became a 33-25 lead after three. And the fourth quarter was more of the same, increasing the Bulldogs frustration level with each passing minute. With the game in hand, both teams emptied their benches in the closing moments, and Madison once again winning in a tough venue.

Benson led Madison with 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Slates added 14 points and six assists.